Heads up, I want to let you all know that Stitches will in fact be ending around chapter 23-25 and the Epilogue is still up for debate!

Let me know what you think please!

Also, Watching Miraculous is now uploaded on Archive of Our Own.

School was back on the following day, Madame Bustier reminding them of the homework they had been assigned. Adrien, Max, Sabrina, and Chloé were the only ones who ended up finishing the assignment, though Marinette was pretty sure that Chloé had Sabrina do her work. Again.

Marinette failed to hear a single word that Madame Bustier said though, her attention focused on the blonde boy in front of her. She wasn't too worried about anyone finding it weird anymore. She was pretty certain that everyone in the class except the boy himself had know that she had a huge crush on him. Well, the boy didn't know until she had told his alter-ego. This time though, she was staring at him for a different reason.

She was trying to come up with a plan where she could confront Adrien and figure out what happened in the nightmare that Sandman had given him, if he had been given a nightmare at all. With the way he's been acting lately, she most certainly believes that he had received a nightmare that he had yet to recover from.

Adrien, on the other hand, could feel her blue eyes burning into the back of his skull. He refused to turn around as his thoughts were focused on her as well. Her, and what may or may not be her alter-ego. After his talk with Nino, Adrien had started to piece a few things together, all of which lead Marinette into being Ladybug. The pigtails seemed to make his theory more concrete, as well as her bluebell eyes. The two also shared the same fear for water, and he was pretty certain that Ladybug did not know how to swim. Not that he could recall an instance when the two superheroes needed to swim together, but the fear in her eyes when the bathroom began filling with Aquafiend's water was enough proof. But if Marinette was Ladybug, then why didn't she ever tell him? She had so many opportunities to.

Adrien quickly shook that thought out of his head. If she was Ladybug, like he suspected, than he really had no room to talk. He still hasn't told Marinette that he was Chat Noir yet, and he really doesn't know what's holding him back. The little voice in his head told him that he knew exactly what was holding him back, but he pushed it to the back of his head as he continued to come up with similarities between Ladybug and Marinette. If he was going to confront her on this, he needed solid evidence. Irrefutable evidence, in fact. Because with how adamant Ladybug is on not revealing their identities, there was the possibility that Marinette was deny it until proven wrong.

Thinking back on it, there was one time when he saw both Marinette and Ladybug in the same place, but that was the same day that there were two Ladybugs. And later that night, when the superhero duo was on patrol, Ladybug had confessed that she went back in time with Timebreaker. Adrien bit back a sigh as he rubbed his pinched eyebrows to relax them. He saw Nino look at him through the corner of his eyes. His best friend patted his shoulder quickly before returning his attention to Madame Bustier as she started a new lesson. Adrien smiled gratefully at Nino, knowing full well that Nino would share his notes with him so that the blonde could focus on what was stressing him out.

Marinette, however, noticed the small act of affection and the cogs in her brain began to churn. Was it possible that Nino knew about something? While it may not be about Adrien's superhero identity, there could be something else going on that Adrien the civilian was going through. She saw something in Nino's eyes, a hint of recognition maybe?

Either way, Marinette could extract information from Nino a hell of a lot easier than she could with a bottled up Adrien/Chat Noir.

As if sensing Marinette was thinking about him, Nino turned to see her eyes piercing through his own. Gulping, Nino quickly turned around, not sure how he felt about the look Marinette had been giving him.

During the entire time, Alya had been watching her two friends and boyfriend with inquisitive eyes. She was being left out of the loop, she could feel it. There was information that her group was withholding from her, and the reporter within her was determined to find it.

~~~~~

It was during lunch that Marinette had Nino trapped in a corner. She stood in front of him, arms crossed as she stared him down as menacing as she could.

"Marinette, please stop giving me the puppy dog eyes."

Okay, so maybe not that menacing, but she is positive that she could still get results with this look! Maybe. Currently, Nino is proving to be pretty resilient when it comes to her puppy dog eyes, but Marinette had a sneaking suspicion that the reason was Alya. Her best friend truly knew how to pull the look and use it to get what she wanted, and Nino has had the most experience with that.

After a few minutes of staring at Nino silently, Marinette sighed as she dropped her arms and looked at Nino in defeat. "Look, Nino. I just, I need to know if Adrien is okay. I've... I've been worried about him for a while now, and after you told me about what happened that day we went to the movies... Y'know that sinking feeling you get in your gut when someone you care about a lot is struggling with something but you don't know what it is?"

By the look Nino held in his hazel eyes, Marinette the feeling that he did. This time, Marinette didn't attempt giving Nino her best puppy look, instead just looking up through her dark lashes. She stared him down with her raw emotions and finally, Nino's arms slumped.

"I can't tell you that. You know you need to ask Adrien that question, not me dudette."

"So I was right. Something is wrong with Adrien." With Nino's nod, Marinette had thought that she'd feel better knowing that Adrien was having troubles, and that was the reason why he was acting strange around her, but it didn't. It didn't help, because she still had no way of knowing how to help him with whatever he was struggling with. "Can't you at least tell me what I can do to help?"

Nino almost looked guilty as he looked her dead in the eye.

"Stay away from him."

Marinette took a step back, shock covering her face as her azure eyes clouded over in hurt. "What?"

"This is gonna sound weird but, stay away from him but stay with him?" Seeing her confusion, Nino elaborated. "Let him know that he doesn't need to be physically attached to you for you to be there for him. Help him understand that no matter what stupid thing he does, you'll always be there, even if you aren't actually next to him to help him."

Nino's hazel eyes flashed with passion as he successfully ended the conversation. "I want to help him, but I can't. The only person he wants help from is you, even if he doesn't want to admit it to himself. I've done all that I can. I've treated and cleaned the wound. Now, Marinette, he needs you to stitch him back together."

With that, Nino left his friend to ponder on that, heading home so that he could eat whatever lunch his mom left for him in the fridge.

~~~~~

Okay, Marinette thought to herself, maybe distancing myself from Adrien is gonna be harder than I thought. One might ask her the simple question of "Why?" Well, the answer is sitting on her desk chair, peacefully sleeping. The cat-themed hero was curled tightly into a ball, his tail-like belt swinging slowly. His blonde head was perched on top of his knees, and Marinette could only think about how uncomfortable that would be for her.

Class had ended a few hours ago, and Marinette could only imagine how long he had been waiting for her. After school was over, Marinette had taken Nino's advice. He was right when he mentioned that Adrien spent too much physical time with her. While she loved him, she couldn't just let him completely absorb her until the point that everything she did was with him, and she couldn't let him do that either. They were living separate lives, and while she loved spending time with him, they also needed some time apart to be with their friends. So she and Alya went to the movies and ate dinner afterwards. And it felt pretty good to not have Ladybug be needed, so she could spend the evening with her best friend without being interrupted.

Quietly, as to not disturb Chat Noir, Marinette closed the trapdoor that lead to her room. She could hear the light bustling of her parents down below, making preparations to close soon, and for the baked goodies they were going to make the next day. It was a comforting noise, to her at least, and she could understand why Adrien was able to fall asleep to it. Sitting on the floor, Marinette dragged her bag over to her, pulling her tablet out so that she could get started on her homework for the night.

It was only about thirty minutes later that Adrien woke up.

Marinette was still working on her homework when she noticed Chat Noir rubbing his eyes before clumsily tumbling out of the chair.

"I thought cats were supposed to be graceful."

"Not as graceful as you, princess." Adrien said without missing a beat as he sleepily settled next to her on the ground. Marinette gave a snort as she continued writing the answer to her physics question.

"So not that graceful, huh?" Adrien smiled at her quip, his startling green eyes lazily following the strokes of her touch-pen as she wrote on her tablet. For the first time in what felt like a long time, Adrien was content. He was content with having a lazy night with Marinette, no worries and no fears. But it didn't last long, because he was reminded of his theory about her being Ladybug. His eyes drifted over to look at Marinette's face, and seeing the soft smile she wore made his heart twist and his throat clench.

He thought back to his conversation with Nino. "She's as strong as Ladybug," Nino had said. And it made sense. Marinette truly was a strong as Ladybug because he was certain that she was Ladybug. Looking at her, he was thinking that he could tell her. Tell her that he knew who she was, and that she didn't need to hold a facade in front of him anymore. He would tell her that he was Chat Noir, and everything would work out.

But he was being held back, and he knew the reason why, but he refused to admit it.

Not tonight, Adrien thought to himself as he watched her, her tongue poking out slightly as she scrunched her her brows together in concentration. Maybe tomorrow. Tonight, Marinette and I can just be happy, and act as if there are no worries in the world. The world doesn't need us tonight.

And, well, if the world did need them, Adrien figured that it could wait.

The long awaited chapter! I hope it was worth the wait! This is building itself up to its climax, and I can admit that Marinette and Adrien's identity will be revealed to each other. I just won't admit how ;).

Anyways, tell me what you think is holding Adrien back from telling Marinette what his identity is!

Until next time, peace!